If you like backpacking but hate that early-morning stiffness from sleeping on cold ground, maybe you’ll find one of the many Hennessy hammocks a welcome change. All of this company’s hammocks are lightweight, designed to be carried into the backcountry. The full line includes jungle hammocks, winter hammocks, and all the accessories you need, and every hammock comes with attached zipperless mosquito netting, detachable rain fly, support ropes, tree hugger straps, and a stuff sack with set-up instructions on the back. In addition, all Hennessy hammocks are asymmetrical, so you lie diagonally to the centerline for more back support.

            Hennessy Hammocks have an entrance that is unlike any other. Instead of climbing into the hammock from the side, which causes a hammock to tip, you enter through an opening in the bottom. Simply poke your head in, sit down above the slit, lie back, and you’re in. Your body weight holds the opening closed, but there’s also a Velcro strap for extra security. To exit, just push your feet through the slit and stand up. An extra advantage to this system is the absence of zippers—no noise in the night or breakage three days out on the trail.

            The people at Hennessy Hammocks also thought about storage knowing you need someplace to stash your valuables, glasses, and shoes overnight. So they attached a pouch, glove hooks, and loops to the ridgeline of the hammock to hold some of your stuff. You can also tie your shoelaces together and hang the pair over the ridgeline. Use a caribinier to hook a daypack or water bottle to the loops at either end, or hang a small light from a glove hook.

            No, these aren’t really from snakes, just a great invention from Hennessy Hammocks for on-the-trail storage. The SnakeSkin is a tube of silnylon only two inches in diameter that is attached over the ropes supporting the hammock. When it’s time to pack up, you simply roll the hammock and fly the long way and slide the SnakeSkins down off the ropes and over the hammock/fly combination.